The invention relates to a service machine for table tennis, and particularly to a service machine that is mountable on a court for table tennis.
The table tennis game is widely considered as one of the popular sports all over the world, partly because it doesn't require a large indoor space or expensive facilities, since a table with a net is essentially all that is required to play the game. It permits people of different age, stature, or sex to play and enjoy together, and basically a player needs nothing more than a personal bat. One can hardly find another sport item as convenient and inexpensive as the table tennis game.
However, one cannot make progress in playing skill alone, and will need a decent partner to practice constantly in order to raise his skill level, and also a training course under a coach's guidance. For this purpose, some service machines have been developed and provided for people to practice receiving skill on their own and without a partner. Unfortunately, when using a conventional service machine, a user has to go across the table from time to time to the service machine for resetting another mode or function if a change in the service style is desired. This procedure tends to reduce a player's interest in the game.
Subsequently, some machines closer to human function have been proposed, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,485,995 and 5,566,936. Other examples are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,917,380 and 5,009,412.